Should I have answered the door?

[rcoveles]

About a half hour ago, I'm sitting here when an SUV pulls up in front of my house. They put their flashers on, then a few minutes later, the passenger got out, carrying a clipboard and a letter, and started knocking on my door. I'm pretty certain it was a process server. I haven't paid any of my cards since January, and one of them is a local bank, and they've been demanding payment in full on a business line to the tune of 25k.

I didn't answer, so he taped a letter on my front door. I noticed a flash when he was out there as well, so I'm assuming he took a photo of either my address, or the letter on the door.

Should I have just answered the door? I really didn't know what to do. My heart is still racing..lost my appetite.

Stupid question..should I take the letter off the door?

[GoingDown]

I, personally, never answer my door unless I know who it is and I want to talk to them-- for many reasons.

But, it will not stop the lawsuit from moving forward, either way.

If you are being sued, you have some decisions to make right away...

1. Answer the lawsuit and fight against it if you want to stall and delay, but this will cost you some money and not be easy. And unless the debt is beyond the statute of limitations, or truly not your debt (be honest), you will probably end up losing the fight anyways. It will just buy you some time before you get a judgment filed against you.

2. File Bankruptcy immediately and then file a copy of your filings with the court asking the judge to dismiss the pending lawsuit against you.

3. Make yourself as judgment proof as possible by closing checking accounts, savings accounts, etc., and getting paper checks and cashing them when possible or getting a pre-paid visa debit card and using direct deposit to it when possible.

[rcoveles]

Thanks for the reply - it is much appreciated - I couldn't resist..I took the envelope off the door, and as suspected, it is from my local bank, but it's just a letter saying to call them at 1-800 whatever between the hours of blah blah..

Wondering if he may have had another letter, that I would have received if I answered? I only really saw one in his hand. It's really not very official..my business and name were hand written on the front, and the letter isn't even signed by anyone. I'm wondering if I should just send them a few token payments via money order to calm them down a bit? Just a few bucks here and there.

I have been preparing the past few months, working on the "judgment proof" thing, but I'm not quite ready to file till about August or so, since we're in the middle of some renovations on the house, which I'm still holding the money for. Hoping that I can stall any lawsuits until I'm ready to file and get this all behind me already.

[GoingDown]

Wow, the creditors are really getting desperate to actually send someone out in person to knock on a debtor's door and leave a note to ask the debtor to call them back.

I must say that this would be a rather effective way of getting a debtor's attention. Far more effective than phone calls. But also far more expensive.

[rcoveles]

Got my attention! They're sorta pissing me off actually..they've called my dad about a half dozen times, and they actually called my father-in-law the other day. The FDCPA is sorta vague about this, saying they can do this if they don't know how to get in touch with you..well, they know my number - I just never answer. So now they're sending seedy looking dudes to my front door with letters, which I don't really understand either, because they sent me a certified letter about 2 weeks ago, which I signed for, no problem.

Either way, they are DEFINITELY getting a return call from me, so I guess their ploy worked!